Main St. bike lanes win VNC support

In the meeting Tuesday night the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) Board of Directors voted to support the road diet that
will add bike lanes to Main St. from the Santa Monica border to the Windward Circle in Venice. I forget the exact vote, but it carried by a wide majority. LADOT was able to get their management to approve a small but significant change to improve the project. The central turn lane width can now be reduced by one foot to allow the bike lanes to be increased by a half foot on each size, making them a minimum of 5.5 feet at their narrowest point. The revised design will now have 7 foot parking lanes on either side, 11 foot travel lanes, a 9 foot full length two-way turn lane in the center and the 5.5 foot (minimum) bike lanes. The bike lanes will be wider in some areas where there is more overall roadway width.

About 10-12 people from the public spoke on the item, with all but 2 or 3 urging the Board to support the project. Construction of the lanes is expected to begin shortly, in something like a month or two.

A big thanks to everyone who came to speak or sent emails to the VNC Board and to LACBC for their advocacy and outreach work on this. And of course a special thanks is due to the Bikeway staff at LADOT who have been working on this project for years. Thank You!

Kent Strumpell
LABAC,
SMSpoke Steering Committee

In a Post on BikeSide we see some in depth research into this project – with pros and cons. A very good read for sure. It is always a difficult line to tread between wanting to see things happen and chancing it by holding out for the best (or better) solutions. See the comment by BikingInLA’s Ted Rogers. It is also important to note that pressure & negotiating for projects like this is a on going process and is not only applied at public meetings but is a continuing process for community bike advocates.

[…] Santa Monica Spoke writes about Tuesday’s successful vote by the Venice Neighborhood Council to support the Main Street road diet. Bikeside’s Mihai Peteu says he supports the road diet, but it could — and should — be a […]